Topology of Hitchin systems and Hodge theory of character varieties: the case A₁

For G = GL_2, PGL_2 and SL_2 we prove that the perverse filtration associated to the Hitchin map on the cohomology of the moduli space of twisted G-Higgs bundles on a Riemann surface C agrees with the weight filtration on the cohomology of the twisted G character variety of C, when the cohomologies are identified via non-Abelian Hodge theory. The proof is accomplished by means of a study of the topology of the Hitchin map over the locus of integral spectral curves.